Lunar Missions

Table of Contents

There have been a surprising number of successful lunar missions since Pioneer 4 in 1959, yielding a wealth of data that has significantly advanced our understanding of the moon. There are many interesting aspects to these missions but at The-Moon Wiki our primary interest is the returned data, together with sufficient historical background to put it in context. More general information about each mission is available on Wikipedia.

Completed Missions and Programs

This table has been adapted from [1] and some text is from [3].

See also the clickable timeline of links to mission information at results links at the US National Space Science Data Center.

Series of circumlunar free return probes. Gathered data on micrometeor flux, solar and cosmic rays, magnetic fields, radio emissions and the solar wind. Biological payloads were also flown and many photographs were taken.

Flyby. Returned 6 mosaics of the moon. Also returned photographs of the north polar region of the moon where prior coverage was poor. These provided a basis for cartographers to update lunar maps and improve the Lunar Control Network. [2].

Orbiter. Returned images at various wavelengths of visible, ultraviolet and infrared, laser ranging altimetry, gravimetry and charged particle measurements. This data was used to assess the surface mineralogy of the entire surface of the Moon, provide altimetry from 60N to 60S latitude, and provide gravity data for the near side.

Orbiter. Imaged the lunar surface in X-ray and infrared and from several angles to allow 3D mapping. Determined the Moon's chemical composition using X-ray spectroscopy. Used infrared light to search for ice at the Moon's south pole, where some areas of the surface are never exposed to direct sunlight. Mapped the Moon's Peaks of Eternal Light.

Hitting the Moon

The first spacecraft to touch the Moon slammed into it at high speeds - the euphemistic "hard landing". During Apollo, upper stages of the Saturn rocket were impacted onto the surface to help calibrate seismometers, and recently all orbiters ended their missions with (mostly) controlled impacts, especially in hope of vaporizing polar ices. Here is a list of hard landings on the Moon, when and where (when known) they hit and observations of the impact.

A more comprehensive list of man-made objects on the Moon (including soft landings) can be found in the Wikipedia. The coordinates of a number of these objects have been refined (and sometimes discovered) using LRO photos.